Unspoken
by VizardAmata
Summary: A tragic tale of Unspoken love. IchigoxRukia
1. Prologue

Ichigo couldn't stop thinking about the past two years. It had certainly been an _interesting_ time, to say the least. His life had always been a little out of the ordinary, but it had been a pretty simplistic life at its core.  
At least it had been, until one night when a black swallow tailed butterfly had fluttered calmly through his window, followed by none other than Rukia Kuchiki.

He thought back on that seemingly distant time with a rueful smile. It wasn't because he regretted how things had worked out, it was just... his attitude back then had been arrogant, but he hadn't had the skills to match up to it; he had almost gotten Rukia killed with his recklessness.  
But that, of course, hadn't stopped him from charging headfirst into every battle, completely disregarding any notion that he might be outmatched. It was just his nature.

And who could blame him? He thought that if any ordinary schoolboy had suddenly gained the power to kick arse in truly magnificent style, the natural reaction would be to get a little – bigheaded.

But he guessed he had changed. He had nearly died enough times for him to have lost count. According to Rukia, it was only because one's reiatsu was equivalent to their life force that he had managed to survive some of the thrashings he had gotten over the months past. So now that things had finally started to calm down, he was taking time just to sit and contemplate. It really wasn't like him, though, and he was struggling with it.

He grinned and bore it, regardless, because he knew that if he didn't reshape his thinking one day he was just going to run out of reiatsu and die, just like that. And that would start a whole glorious cycle.  
After Death he would hopefully have konso, and go to Rukongai. Where of course he would spend every waking moment trying to join the Shinigami Academy.  
It was endless, really.

So that was why he was now sitting alone in his room on a Saturday, looking out at the afternoon sunshine as his mind traipsed slowly through the memories just gone by.  
But he wasn't making as much progress as he might have hoped. His mind, the relentless, tenacious thing that it was, kept returning to one memory in particular.  
Ichigo frowned and shook his head before taking a deep breath, hoping it would clear his mind.


	2. Chapter One

The Soul Society – and Rukongai – had pretty much returned to normal. Life in the District was still hard and gruelling, and life in Soul Society had not lost it's sheen of self-importance. All was right with the world. It was almost if three captains hadn't gone awry and almost wiped an entire town off the map.  
Rukia found it almost inhuman that the grand scheme of things had fallen back into their old familiar patterns so quickly; she had expected that even after the rubble had been cleared and the wounds seen to, the painful scar of Aizen Sousuke's betrayal would remain for years to come.  
Perhaps, deep down in people's hearts, it did. But on the outside, it was if nothing had ever happened.

But, there was one thing that remained in the forefront of people's minds that would be a little harder to forget. How could people simply let the past dissolve into unimportance when they were reminded of it every time they saw her?  
Perhaps some of them even placed some of the blame for what happened on her. Stranger things had occurred in her long, long life. She knew that she just had to ignore the disapproving glares that she occasionally got. It was the natural order of things; people were bound to blame her, even if they weren't conscious of it.

"Damn it, why am I thinking about this...?" She muttered to herself as she walked briskly towards the base of the 13th squad. Hopefully she would receive orders to go to the real world... ever since she had left she had missed all of the friends she had made there. Orihime, Chad, Uryuu and of course, Ichigo.

Her stomach fluttered at the mention of Ichigo's name, and Rukia closed her eyes frustratedly. Lately her mind had been insistent on replaying all of their key moments together; trying to trick her into thinking she had feelings for him. But she couldn't do, they were literally worlds apart. She was a shinigami, and he was a human. What use would feelings be in this situation?

Sighing to herself, Rukia slid open the door to the 13th squad headquarters and entered.  
Her captain, Ukitake Jushiro sat cross legged at the left side of the room, calmly sipping tea as his two subordinates bickered endlessly between themselves. She had to smile, every time she entered the squad office it was like this and every time Ukitake had the same expression of contentment. How anyone could look content with that racket going on was beyond her, but Ukitake had always been a little different.

"Hello there, Kuchiki-san!" Ukitake said warmly as he waved impatiently at his subordinates to get them to quieten down.

"How do you do, Captain Ukitake?"

Rukia made her way into the middle of the room and bowed deeply before lowering herself to her knees. As she waited for Ukitake to finish his tea, Rukia remembered that it was this exact humble pose she had been in when she had first received the order to go to Karakura town. Things were almost exactly the same as back then, it was eerie. There was only one real difference that enabled her to shake off the feeling that she was reliving the past.  
Ukitake drained his cup and placed it on the wood floor beside him before picking up a letter that had been folded many times. He opened it and began to recite almost sombrely from it;

"'3rd seat Kuchiki Rukia, it has been asked of you that you return to Karakura Town to retrieve the substitute shinigami Kurosaki Ichigo. Captain-Commander Yamamoto has recognised that he was of great assistance to the Soul Society in dealing with the traitor, one Aizen Sousuke. It has therefore been decided that an exception will be made, and Kurosaki will enter the Shinigami Academy upon his arrival. Further details will be relayed to him upon his entrance into the academy.'"

Rukia sat perfectly still, her face perfectly emotionless. It almost looked as if she had fallen asleep with her eyes open; her face relayed none of the emotions currently roiling around inside her. It was a blank canvas, as still and blameless as a midsummer sky.  
Ukitake looked at her kindly, waiting for her to grasp the rather surprising news he had just relayed to her. It was a great surprise to all of them, that such a thing had been allowed.

He wondered if old man Yama-jii knew of Ichigo's secret. It was quite possible he did, but Ukitake had to wonder. Yama-jii had never been fond of the idea of Vizards, so what would have changed his mind?

"I-Ichigo will.... will... become a shinigami?" Rukia asked, her shock finally bleeding through into her stammering voice.

"Not completely. I'm not sure what Yama-jii has planned for Kurosaki, but I would imagine that he is receiving this training as both a thank you and a preparation."

"Prep... preparation?"

"Yes. I think that on his day of properly passing over, Yama-jii hopes to have Kurosaki immediately gain a high seated position in the Gotei thirteen. For what purpose I don't know, but that's the only thing that makes sense to me."

Rukia nodded, knowing that any speculation on their parts was pretty much fruitless. Neither of them could even guess at what Captain-Commander Yamamoto was planning, so she guessed she would just have to follow the order and see what happened.

"Thank you for informing me, Captain Ukitake, I shall report to you on the completion of my mission."


End file.
